Ask. Seek. Knock. (Matthew 7:7-12)
Today, we are going to focus on the importance of prayer. Why does God answer some prayer requests and not others? Every few years the youth group goes to Washington DC to serve and to explore our nation’s heritage, particularly our faith heritage. We love seeing the Capitol, all the amazing statues and museums. The Bible Museum is always amazing. One of my new favorite places to visit is National Community Church led by pastor Mark Batterson. If you’re ever in DC, his church is worth checking out. If nothing else, knowing the church’s origin story is inspiring. You may have heard of it if you’ve read Mark’s book The Circle Maker. In it he outlines how his church grew out of a public-school cafeteria to the multisite megachurch it is today. In the beginning, Mark spent about $1,600 to rent out a cafetoria, which was steep considering the church only brought in about $2,000/month. Mark was not deterred though because he had big aspirations. He was inspired by the promise Joshua received from God, where God promised to give him every square inch of the land he stepped on within the Promised Land (Joshua 1:3). So, Mark decided to set out on foot like Joshua. He walked a 4.7-mile prayer circle around Capitol Hill in about 3 hours and he did it continuously over many years. Eventually by God’s grace he was able to acquire his first significant piece of property within the circle in 2002. The circle has been growing ever since (Circle Maker Student Edition, 15-16). Mark had the audacity to ask God a bold request. He asked God for prime real estate around the Capitol and God answered.
On the flip side, there are plenty of stories similar to what Amanda Jenkins has experienced regarding prayer. Amanda is the wife of Dallas Jenkins, who produces and directs The Chosen, a TV series about Jesus and his disciples. In a devotional, Amanda shared about her and Dallas’s non-verbal, autistic child, along with the joys and hardships of raising one of God’s unique creations. Moreover, she mentioned a time she felt compelled to ask God for supernatural healing. She realized she had never asked God to heal her daughter, so she brought her boldest prayer before God and asked him to move the mountain, so to speak. She asked, sought, and knocked. She had child-like faith. All the boxes were checked, yet the mountain was not moved. Did she do something wrong? Did she not have faith as small as a mustard seed? Others have prayed for healing in faith and experienced healing. Why not her? Why does God answer some prayers and not other prayers?
This is a question, among many, we will process as we continue our journey through the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 7. The ask-seek-knock passage is awesome, and it offers us an amazing promise. However, it can also be a little confusing and frustrating at
times. Therefore, let’s pray God will reveal the true meaning behind his holy words. 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Before we proceed with making interpretations, it’s important to understand the context of this passage. Prior to these remarks, Jesus offered his wisdom on making proper judgments. We addressed this last time I preached. Jesus said, before you seek to remove the speck from your brother’s eye, make sure you address the log in your own eye. Obviously, that’s no easy task. Having a clean heart and pure motives is tough, and then knowing how to confront someone can be just as tough – that is if we should even confront someone. Furthermore, right before verse 7, Jesus said, “Do not throw your pearls to pigs.” In other words, at certain times, we shouldn’t give fools our pearls of wisdom because they will inevitably trample over it and not appreciate it. So, you see, confronting people requires a lot of wisdom. As a result, we need to ask God for help. In James 1:5, we’re told, God offer us generous wisdom during times of trials. Matthew 7:7 echoes this same promise. God will answer us when we ask him for help.
On the other end of this promise, Jesus recited the Golden Rule in verse 12, “do to others what you would have them do to you.” This bookend also gives us parameters as to what we should ask for in prayer. For instance, I should probably think twice about asking God to send down fire to consume my enemies like the disciples James and John, given I would not be pleased to have someone ask for my demise in such a way. This is the context of the ask-seek-knock passage. The context adds meaning to our text and protects us from plucking it out and using it as the ultimate name-it-and-claim-it verse. Despite popular belief, this passage is not a formula to get whatever you want. This passage doesn’t paint God as some genie or cosmic vending machine. Instead, it does offer some great guidelines for us to consider in our prayer requests, even when our requests go beyond seeking wisdom for right judgements.
For instance, we can identify a guideline in the first verse, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Notice the verbs: ask, seek, and knock. Jesus shows us – action is required on our part in prayer, which makes sense. It’s hard to receive what you don’t ask for. Also, notice how the action verbs progressively intensify, and how with each action there’s reciprocation. Whatever energy is put forth in this verse, it’s met with a response. This illustrates God will respond in kind when we seek him.
To support my case, I want you to turn over to Luke 11. Like Matthew, Luke gave an account of Jesus’ teaching on prayer, yet he adds an interesting illustration that Matthew decided to omit. Before sharing his words on asking and seeking, Luke records Jesus saying these words,
“Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need” (Luke 11:5-8). I’ve got news for you; you are represented by someone in this parable. Can you guess who?
That’s right! You are the annoying neighbor who doesn’t understand social boundaries, which means God is represented as the friend who is woken up.
Now, you may be tempted to think this parable pegs God as some grumpy, stingy person who begrudgingly gives us what we want. I don’t believe that’s what Jesus is getting at. Rather, I believe Jesus shared this story to highlight the importance of acting boldly when we have needs. Likewise, the story teaches us - if a sinful person will answer this type of call for help, you better believe God will.
We realize the same truth in Luke 18 when Jesus shared about the persistent widow. Jesus
told a parable about a woman who desperately sought justice against her adversary. For some
time, the ungodly judge refused to take the case, but eventually he caved to her constant
hounding and said to himself, “Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think...I will
see that she gets justice...so that she won’t attack me!” At the end of the parable Jesus said,
“Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night (Luke 18:6-7)?”
Again, notice the highlighted actions and persistence. Sadly, many times we expect God to act without any effort on our part. Our key passage and these parables communicate – if we want God to act in a supernatural way on our behalf, we must allow God to do the “super” while we do the “natural”. In other words, there’s a cause and effect. We play a part when it comes to receiving from God. This is one key factor in getting a response from him.
Having a relationship with God is another huge factor! I don’t think it’s a coincidence Jesus uses the example of a parent and a child when he elaborated on asking and seeking. Look at
verse 9 once more, 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Jesus went “Captain Obvious” on them. What father in his right mind would ever give his child something bad in exchange for a need, like food? Furthermore, what father would fail to properly respond to his child? A father may or may not respond to random people, but his kids have full access to him and his gifts. The same is true with our Heavenly Father. You have full access to him as an adopted son or daughter – that is if you’ve put your trust in him.
The opposite is also true. If you are not a child of God, your access is limited. Let’s use some of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day as examples. Jesus referred to some of them as sons of the devil for how they lived. He showed them how they followed the father of lies, as opposed to seeking God. He put it to them bluntly in John 8:47, “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” The lack of connection went both ways. Certain Pharisees couldn’t hear from God and God didn’t hear them since there was no relationship. A relationship with God is pivotal! Not too long we reviewed the book of Acts in our Sunday classes. In Acts 19:15, some travelling Jews went around trying to cast out demons in the name of Jesus. One day an evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the evil spirit gave them a good whooping. Asking in the name of Jesus didn’t help. Why? They were not children of God.
Taking action and being a child of God – these are some key guidelines to consider if you desire to receive, to find, or to have a door opened for you. That said, I do want to spend time looking at some other Scriptural guidelines to assist us because I have a suspicion some of you are thinking, “Okay. I got it. I have a relationship with God, and I diligently ask God to meet my needs all the time, yet nothing is happening.” If that’s you, I feel you. I periodically work through those same thoughts. Thankfully, though, we don’t have to remain in the dark. God’s Word offers sound reasons as to why we don’t always receive the way we expect to.
#1 – You may have issues with doubt. In James 1, God promises to give generous wisdom to those who ask, but he gives a warning James 1:6, “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” You may find it very difficult to trust God will give you anything – let alone something as wonderful as the Holy Spirit and the gifts tied to the Spirit. If you don’t really believe God will respond to you, don’t expect to receive from him.
#2 – Disobedience may be keeping you from receiving from God. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 66:18, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” Unconfessed, habitual sin can block us from God. It’s no different with earthly relationships. Students, why should your parents listen to your request to have a phone (or whatever) when you’ve shown you can’t be faithful to obey the rules they’ve laid out for you? In the same way, why should any of us expect to have God’s ear when we refuse to obey? The Lord is far from the wicked, but here’s the good news: he hears the prayers of the righteous – the obedient (Proverbs 15:29). The apostle John wrote, “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him” (1 John 3:21).
#3 – Outside of doubt and disobedience, wrong motives may be hindering our prayers. James told the early followers of Jesus, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). Wrong motives will get us every time. I’m glad James gives us this clarification at the end because, at times, it’s hard to discern the motives behind our requests. James helps us consider why we are asking. Are we asking for our own pleasures or are we asking for God’s glory? This is a great question to consider in any relationship. Young people, remember this when you ask for a phone. I’m telling you; you won’t get far if you ask for a new phone for the sole purpose of being on social media all day. Someone needs to tell my daughter Rae, she will have no chance of getting a phone with those motives; however, it’s a different story if she wants to text her friends encouraging Bible verses or if she wants to send me heart emojis all day. Motives matter.
Before leaving earth Jesus said, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:13-14). Right motives are rooted in his glory and his will. These are some of the factors presented in Scripture as to why we don’t find the response we’re looking for in prayer.
Now, you may still be in the same boat...thinking, “Ok, I’m still doing my part! I have deep faith. I’m walking in obedience; I have the right motives and God isn’t answering.” I hear you. No need to fret. Just remember – GOD ALWAYS ANSWERS. If we seek, we will find. The response may not match our expectations, but God is true to his promises, nonetheless.
I think Rick Warren offers a wonderful filter for us to think through whenever we do have questions about God’s response or timing. He has written, “When the request is not right, God says “No”. When the timing is not right, God says “Slow”. When you are not right, God says “Grow”. But when the request is right and the timing is right and you are right, God says “Go”.
I’m sure we can all relate to these answers. We’ve all been given a “no” at some point, which isn’t always fun. Yet, hopefully over time you’ve seen how a “no” from God can be loving and helpful in the long run. For all you 90’s country fans, I think about the young man in the song “Unanswered Prayers.” The young man continually asked God to make his high school sweetheart his for all time, however God had a better plan. The young man finally embraced the “no” after he married the woman of his dreams later in life. I can relate! When God says, “no”, we can trust he has our best interest at heart.
Other times, God will tell us “slow”. Sometimes the timing isn’t right. Abraham and Sarah desperately wanted a child, and they had reason to expect one. God promised them many heirs. Still, God’s timing did not line up with their expectations. They wanted immediate results, but God wanted them to slow down – probably because he wanted them to grow.
This is a third response. Sometimes God says “grow” when we aren’t right. It’s quite obvious Abraham and Sarah had trust issues. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have brought Hagar into the picture. Maybe God needed them to grow because their identity was too wrapped up in a baby and not in the one who knits babies together. The same can be said for the Israelites in the wilderness. I’m sure they prayed over and over for deliverance, yet why did God keep them in the wilderness? He kept them there to test them, to build character, and to foster trust in him (Deut. 8:2). Long story short, God needed them to grow.
Finally, if your heart and your request and the timing is right, God will say “Go”. This is, of course, our favorite response. God gave Solomon wisdom when he requested it as king (1 Kings 3:9-12), God responded to Elijah’s request to bring fire from heaven, Cornelius knocked and God opened the door of salvation (Acts 10:31). God gives a “go” when everything is right.
I hope you noticed, in all these responses - God answered. Don’t let Satan convince you God is
indifferent or negligent in responding to your prayers. He always answers in one way or
another, and regardless of the outcome, you can always trust his character and his perfect will.
As I mentioned Amanda Jenkins prayed for her daughter to be healed. Listen to what she
wrote after she got a “No” from God. “In the days that followed my prayer-fail, I found my footing in
God’s character. He is good, He is kind, He is love – those were the things I knew to be true in spite of my disappointment and confusion. I clung to what I knew.”
She went on to write, “Thing is, I don't know God's will. I know His commands. I know His heart. I know the Bible; I'm growing in my understanding of it more and more as the years go by, and so my prayers more often reflect His priorities and will. But I still don't know God's will in regard to the intricacies of life. I don't know why He allows hard things or why He chooses to sometimes remove hard things. But I do know that God knows all the things I don't - He knows everything. So I ask in faith because He can do anything. And then I can trust Him regardless of His answer because in His sovereign wisdom and abounding love, God will do everything that aligns with His perfect will” Jenkins, Chosen 2 Devotional, 109-111.
She is on point. When what we pray for doesn’t come to fruition, we can always trust the character of God. We can trust he is all-knowing and all-loving. Even in silence, we can trust he’s right beside us, he cares, and he definitely understands. Think about it. Jesus also cried out to his father and got silence. Before he was crucified, he prayed, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” Mark 14:36. Jesus, the suffering servant, understands silence. While on earth he understood what it was like to not have a prayer answered like he desired. But here’s the amazing part, he kept asking. He knew the power of prayer and he knows the Heavenly Father can be trusted. As we leave this morning, I want this to be our charge moving forward: keep on asking, seeking, and knocking. It’s a surefire way to keep you on track in 2025.
Recently, I’ve been doing a little case study of what made David a man after God’s own heart despite all his shortcomings. One attribute that really set him apart was how often he sought God through prayer. When you get a chance search “David inquired of the Lord” in the Bible app. This phrase is repeated over and over again in 1 & 2 Samuel. David inquired of the Lord for wisdom before battles (1 Sam. 23:2, 23:4, 30:8), he asked the Lord for direction in uncertain times (2 Sam. 2:1), he sought God during a famine, and so on. Do you know what got him in trouble? He got in trouble when he failed to ask, seek, or knock. It doesn’t appear David asked God to protect his eyes on the roof top with Bathsheba next door. We know he didn’t ask God for help when he arranged for Uriah’s death. The same can be said when David took a census of Israel without consulting God (1 Chron. 21:1-8). All in all, David struggled when he relied on his own thinking. He stumbled when he refused to ask of the Lord. Therefore, let’s learn from him. Let’s keep on asking. Keep on seeking and knocking. We will find God.
If you’ve never sought him before, I want to give you an opportunity to do that this morning. I’m telling you...if you haven’t been seeking him, you’ve been searching in the wrong places. Whether you realize it or not, Jesus is the person you are looking for. He is the embodiment of love! And his love is made evident in this - even if you’re not seeking him, he’s seeking you. That’s how much he loves you. He once said, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20). You don’t have to look far this morning for love. He is knocking at your door. Will you let him in?
This invitation extends to us all. Whether you’ve been his child for a day or years, you can find what you need in Jesus. You may not get a lifetime supply of the physical bread you desire. But, as the true bread of life, Jesus will give you what you need today.